By this Author: Weimerrv

Today was again another beautiful day. I rode about 210 miles today and won't be riding again for awhile! I was blessed with so much good weather!

Thank you Terry and Patty for your great hospitality in Williamsburg, I had a great time and your new house is beautiful. Terry made a delicious breakfast and the ride through the southern VA countryside was great. I rode down VA 5 which goes past a bunch of VA plantations along the James river. I was interested in stopping and taking pictures but I am exhausted by my trip and just want to get home to Beth and my thousand entry "honey do" list.....I did not stop but I will definitely be back with Beth because this part of the country is beautiful and historic and if you know me, I am all about history.

I stopped by the bike shop in Garner to get my mirror ordered, it should arrive in about a week so I can get the last part repaired from the mishap in Iowa.

Throughout this trip God held me in his hands and brought me safely home. Beth supported me throughout and i couldn't have more thoughtful and tolerant partner in life! I want to thank ALL the friends and family that I visited. You all made this trip very special and I couldn't have made the trip without you. I had such a good time and this blog is a poor attempt at showing how I felt about the folks I got to see. I really appreciate you all very much. The memories from this trip will last me the rest of my life. I know I may have taken too many pictures of some events and not enough of others but I hope the memories never fade.

I want to share some of the different things that i catalogued during the trip that I thought were interesting. Here they are in descending order of occurrence:

Russ’s Trip by the Numbers Amount Comment

Miles 10,690
Gas expenses $914.22
Longest ride 710 Miles
Total nights 74
Friends visited 37
States visited on this trip 31
Family visited 30
Nights in a hotel alone 16
Hostess gifts given 15
States left to Ride in 12
Computers, Kindle's fixed 6
Incidents with animals 5
Rounds of golf 4.5
New States visited 4 Arkansas, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska
Nights in hotel with Beth 4 1 in las Vegas because of Beth staying at the airport the first night and 3 in Iowa
Continental Divide crossings 4 3 in Yellowstone 1 in Colorado
CMA meetings attended 3 Lewes CO, Portland, OR, Mount Pleasant IA
Days of significant rain 3 Idaho, Montana and South Dakota really unbelievable out of 75 total days
Weird states to get rained on 2 Arizona and Southern California
Oil changes 2
New Tires 2
Carpal Tunnel 2 Each hand, worse on my left hand
Lost golf balls 2 Both in watery graves
Nights on a Sailboat 1 Thank you Tony for the great time sailing on the "Makai"
Bike knocked over 1 In Iowa
Canadian Provinces 1 British Columbia
Islands visited 1 Vancouver Island
Famous homes I stayed in 1 The "Happy Gilmour" house in Vancouver...thank you Bryan and Judy McKnight!
States I have never visited 1 North Dakota - hard to find a reason to go.....
Motorcycle warning lights 1 In Stoneboro PA
Broken mirror 1 In Iowa
Gloves worn out 1 pair I got this pair in the service 36 years ago.....hard to throw away....
Seasickness 0 Thank goodness

The best barbecue i had was at Joe's on the Kansas side of KC.....Thanks Jared and Hailey! The photo identification contest - Bitter Melon was won by Nancy Looney...your gift will arrive soon. The winner of the contest to guess the amount of mileage goes to.....drum roll please......Nancy Looney....pretty shrewd waiting to the last minute to guess.....i will have to send a bigger box.

Collins, I hope you saw the picture of the coke bottle i found with your name on it - see you soon at the bridge table!

I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog and perusing the pictures as much as I had writing it and taking and experiencing the pictures.

God Bless you all and I hope I see you all again soon!

I have been so fortunate and God has held me in the palm of his hand throughout this trip. My penultimate day was again beautiful for my ride down to Williamsburg. I rode about 140 miles. The ride was uneventful and I arrived at the Moran’s about 10:30am. Terry and Pat live at Ford’s Colony near Williamsburg now. The moved here from Springfield, near my sister’s home.

Terry made me breakfast and we spent the rest of the morning catching up and viewing some of my pictures. Around noon we got ready for our round of golf. We hit the practice area and I was hitting the ball pretty well...if only it would hold up. The course - Marsh Hawk - is beautiful and has some water hazards but I had a wonderful time but didn’t play particularly well. I couldn’t sink a putt of any length.

Pat only played nine holes then she went to a cocktail party and a Terry and I soldiered on. I ended with a 87 and a Terry beat me by 2 strokes. After the round we retired to the bar for a couple of local beers while we waited for Pat to come pick us up for dinner. Pat arrived and we went back for some showers and then dinner. We ate dinner at the The Blue Talon, a French bistro. The wine, a haut medoc, was good and my dinner of steak frites was excellent. Pat and a Terry both got the duck but weren’t as happy with their meals as I was. Terry had a few words with the manager on the way out.

We returned home and had a nightcap and viewed the rest of the pictures. Terry fell asleep, perhaps Beth was right.....about the pictures.

Tomorrow we will have breakfast and then I will turn for home....I miss Beth and can’t wait to get home.

My last day in Springfield and it was a beautiful day, low humidity and warm. I did not ride today but did a few things.

I first met Marti at Starbucks to visit with her and her crew and pay for over-priced orange juice (rather than over-priced coffee). We had a nice chat and I left after about an hour to go meet Kamran for lunch at the Verixon office in Ashburn. Kamran and I had a very nice chat and I told him about some of my adventures. I invited him to dinner the next time he is in Raleigh.

After lunch I went to spend some time with my parents, dad and I watched the replay of the All Star game from last night. He seemed in good spirits and we had a nice time. I left to go have dinner with Marti and see my great-nephew Oliver and his mother, my niece, Ashley.

Instead of going out or having pizza, we ended up having loaded baked potatoes and playing with Ollie. Boy does he like to eat. After bellying up to the mommy bar he had two pouches (I am so behind the times) of baby food - no glass jars for him! After dinner Ashley took me to see her and Kenny’s house. It is very nice townhouse near where my mom and dad live. I then went over to say goodbye to my parents and see if they needed anything before I left.

I went back to Marti’s house and watched a bit of tv and did some laundry. I said my goodbyes and will leave for Wiiliamsburg in the morning..

Thank you a Marti and Rob for your hospitality and use of the car. It felt good to drive around Able to wear shorts and sandals and not have to be geared up.

I am at 10,323 miles. Since I have cut my trip a bit short, guesses for the total mileage will be accepted via email as long as they are time-stamped before my last blog entry Friday night 7/20/18. Good Luck to all those submitting guesses....

Another hot day with a pretty good thunderstorm....glad I wasn’t riding today. The canopy that was over my bike blew over in the storm missing my bike and my sister’s car.....lucky.

I slept in and then went to Starbucks with my sister. I met several of her friends and spent some money on over priced orange juice and a donut...
Later that mirning I helped my sister with moving some stuff for one of her clients and then we had lunch with my mom.

After lunch I made a few phone calls, did some research on wine refrigerators and took a nap. We had tacos for dinner and then went to friends to play cards. I was successful in pinochle but a loser at spades....we had some wine and some excellent chocolate chip cookies.

Tomorrow I will go see my parents again. I am also meeting a Kamran at some point for lunch or dinner.

3 more days till I see a Beth and home sweet home.

Today was hot with a thunderstorm in the afternoon. I didn’t ride at all today. My sister graciously gave me one of her vehicles to use.

I spent the morning going over the different aspects of my trip so I can provide a summary as my last blog entry. I then got subway sandwiches for my mom and I for lunch. I also got a treat from Dunkin’ Donuts for later. My dad has been undergoing treatment for cancer and did not have a good night last night so was asleep when I got there for lunch. Mom and I chatted during lunch and then dad woke up and ate a little. I showed him pictures from the Air Force museum and then we watched a movie while my mom went to a meeting.

I spent part of the afternoon researching wine fridges (ours in on the fritz). In fact I think we are going to replace all our kitchen appliances. After that research I read a bit then took a nap. I have not been sleeping that well, the carpal tunnel causes my hand to throb and if I wake up I can’t get back to sleep.

We went out for burgers for dinner and then back to watch a couple movies. Tomorrow my sister needs some help so I will assist her then visit my parents again.

I can’t wait to get home.....